Apparatus and method for handling particulate material

ABSTRACT

Particulate material, such as toner, is stored within a hopper ( 12 ) which leads to a feed screw ( 30 ). The feed screw ( 30 ) moves the particulate material through an outlet passageway ( 24 ) into a discharge spout ( 26 ). The outlet ( 46 ) of the discharge spout ( 26 ) delivers the toner into the inlet of a funnel ( 52 ). The funnel ( 52 ) delivers the toner into the inlet ( 50 ) of a toner cartridge ( 48 ). The toner cartridge ( 48 ) and funnel ( 52 ) are mounted by a carriage ( 56 ) for back and forth movement below the outlet ( 46 ). The rate of toner feed is coordinated with the cartridge travel so that the toner is substantially evenly distributed into the cartridge ( 48 ).

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to an apparatus and method for storing andconveying finely divided particulate material such as, for example,toner that is used in laser printers, copying machines, and the like.More particularly, it relates to the provision of an apparatus andmethod for filling bottles, cartridges, and other containers, withtoner, etc., in a fast, easy and economical way.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Prior art devices and methods for dispensing toner and other finelydivided particulate material are disclosed in the following U.S. Pat.No. 3,664,385, granted May 23, 1972, to Clarence F. Carter; U.S. Pat.No. 4,305,529, granted Dec. 15, 1981, to Charles W. Spehrley Jr.; U.S.Pat. No. 4,611,921, granted Sep. 16, 1986, to Jiterdna A. Patel; U.S.Pat. No. 6,000,446, granted Dec. 14, 1999, to Paul M. Wegman, MikhailVaynshteyn and Charles J. Balistere; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,722,406,granted Apr. 20, 2004, to Paul M. Wegman and Mikhail Vaynshteyn. Thecontents of these patents are hereby incorporated herein to provide abackground of the invention.

A problem with the prior art devices for handling and feeding toner isthat they take up substantial space, are costly, and are relativelydifficult to operate and clean. Accordingly, there is a need for animproved apparatus and method for handling bulk toner and other finelydivided particular material (e.g. powders, spices, seeds, etc.) that iseasy to operate, easy to clean, is compact enough to sit on a work benchor cart, is affordable, and can efficiently fill toner cartridges or thelike of many sizes. The principal object of the present invention is tofulfill this need.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The particulate material handling apparatus of the present inventionincludes a particulate material storing hopper having an upper end and alower end and sidewalls that converge as they extend downwardly from theupper end to the lower end. A trough is provided at the lower end of thehopper. The trough has a closed bottom, closed sides and an open top. Anoutlet passageway extends endwise outwardly from one end of the troughto a downwardly opening outlet spout. A feed screw is positioned in thetrough and extends end wise outwardly from the trough into the outletpassageway. The feed screw is operable to move particulate material fromthe hopper into and through the outlet passageway to the dischargespout. In use, a container for receiving particulate material ispositioned under the discharge spout. The feed conveyor is operated tomove particulate material from the hopper to the discharge spout whichdischarges it into the container.

The preferred embodiment comprises a drive shaft that is connected tothe feed screw at the end of the feed screw opposite the outletpassageway. The drive shaft is connected to a drive motor that isoperated for rotating the drive shaft and the feed screw. The preferredembodiment includes at least one vibrator for vibrating the hopper forthe purpose of promoting downward travel of the particulate material inthe hopper.

The container may be a bottle, a bag, a box or a toner cartridge, forexample. A toner cartridge includes an elongated inlet on its top. Thetoner cartridge is preferably supported on a carriage for movement backand forth below the discharge spout, lengthwise of the inlet. Theapparatus may include a load cell for monitoring the weight of theparticulate material leaving the hopper. The hopper may be within anouter housing that sits down on the load cell. The weight on the loadcell decreases in response to particulate material leaving the hopper.In this manner, the amount of particulate material delivered into acontainer can be quickly and automatically monitored.

The feed screw may be provided with a variable speed drive. The housingpreferably includes an instrument panel that includes an off/on switch,a drive speed indicator, and a weight loss gauge.

Other objects, advantages and features of the invention will becomeapparent from the description of the best mode set forth below, from thedrawings, from the claims and from the principles that are embodied inthe specific structures that are illustrated and described.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

Like reference numerals are used to designate like parts throughout theseveral views of the drawing, and:

FIG. 1 is a pictorial view of a housing for a hopper, looking down fromabove towards the top, the front and one side of the housing, such viewshowing a toner cartridge supported on a carriage that moves back andforth lengthwise of the cartridge inlet as toner is being dischargedfrom the hopper into a funnel that directs the toner into the cartridgeinlet;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the apparatus shown by FIG. 1,showing an outlet spout positioned to discharge toner into the funnelthat directs the toner into the cartridge inlet;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken substantially along line 3-3 of FIG. 4,showing the housing, the hopper and a portion of the dischargepassageway in section, and showing the feed screw inside elevation;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the apparatus shown by FIGS. 1-3 with thetop of the hopper removed;

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view through the support table forthe cartridge, showing a carriage on top of the table mounted for backand forth movement lengthwise of the cartridge inlet, and showing a leadscrew drive for the carriage; and

FIG. 6 is an enlarged scale side elevational view of the outletpassageway and the outlet spout, such view showing a container in theform of a bottle.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIGS. 1-3, the illustrated embodiment of the inventioncomprises an outer housing 10, a hopper 12 within the housing 10 and asupporting structure 14 shown in the form of a countertop. The hopper 12has an upper end 16, a lower end 18 and a downwardly tapering sidewall20. A trough 22 is provided at the lower end 18. A discharge passageway24 extends endwise outwardly from one end of the trough 22 to adownwardly opening outlet spout 26 that is outside of the housing 10. Asshown by FIG. 3, the sidewalls of the hopper 12 converge as they extenddownwardly. Hopper 12 is connected to the housing 10 at any suitablemanner. Preferably, a lid 28 is provided for the housing 10 and thehopper 12. In FIG. 1, the lid 28 is removed. In FIG. 3, the lid 28 isinstalled.

An elongated helical feed screw 26 is positioned in the trough 22. Oneend of the feed screw 26 extends through the outlet passageway 24 overto where the outlet passageway 24 connects to the discharge spout 26.The opposite end of the feed screw 26 is connected to a drive shaft 32that extends from the feed screw 30 outwardly through an opening in thehousing sidewall 34. Outwardly of the housing the drive shaft 32 isconnected to a source of drive power. In FIG. 3, a sprocket wheel 36 isshown connected to the drive shaft 32. The sprocket wheel 36 receives adrive chain that extends to another sprocket that is on the output shaftof a drive motor. As can be seen from FIG. 3, rotation of the shaft 32in one direction causes the feed screw to move particulate material outform the hopper 12 through the outlet passageway 24 to the dischargespout 26. Preferably, the mechanism that rotates the drive shaft 32provides a variable speed drive. The drive motor may be a variable speedmotor or there may be a speed changing transmission between the drivemotor and the drive shaft 32.

Preferably, the sidewall 20 of the hopper 12 is provided with at leastone vibrator 38. In FIG. 3, two vibrators 38 are shown positioned onopposite parts of the sidewall 20. When energized, the vibrators 38vibrate the sidewall 20 and promote downward movement of the particulatematerial in the hopper 12. Preferably, a load cell 40 is positionedbelow the housing 10. The load cell 40 weighs the structure that issupported on it. As particulate material is removed from the hopper 12,the weight decreases. The weight differential represents the weight ofthe particulate material that is delivered out through the outlet spout26. This provides an easy way of keeping track of the amount ofparticulate material that is delivered into any particular container.

FIG. 4 shows the outlet spout 26 in the form of a funnel having asidewall that converges as it extends downwardly to a small outletpassageway 46. The feed screw 30 delivers the particulate materialthrough the outlet passageway 24 into the upper bowl of the outlet spout26. In FIG. 6, a bottle B is shown positioned under the outlet 46. Thebottle B can be held by hand under the outlet 46 or can be placed on asuitable support.

FIGS. 1-3 and 5 show a container in the form of a toner cartridge 48.This cartridge 48 has a horizontally elongated inlet opening 50. InFIGS. 1-3 and 5, a horizontally elongated funnel 52 is supported on thecartridge 48 with its outlet end 54 directed into the cartridge inlet50. In FIGS. 1-3 and 5, the toner cartridge 48 is supported on acarriage 56 that is mounted for back and forth movement lengthwise ofthe cartridge inlet 50. By way of typical and therefore non-limitiveexample, the carriage 56 may be connected by a post 58 to a lead screwnut 60. Nut 60 engages a lead screw 62. A drive motor 64 at one end ofthe lead screw 62 rotates the lead screw 62 either clockwise orcounterclockwise. When the lead screw 62 is rotated in one direction,the nut 60, post 58 and carriage 56 travel lengthwise of the lead screw62 to the left (as pictured in FIG. 5). When the lead screw 62 isrotated in the opposite direction, the lead screw nut 60, the post 58and the carriage 56 move to the right. The movement is a straight linemovement and during the movement the inlet to the funnel 52 is always inline with the outlet 46 from the discharge spout 26. The back and forthmovement of the carriage 56 moves with it the cartridge 48 and thefunnel 52. The movement of the carriage 56 is at such a rate of travelthat the toner is evenly distributed along the length of the cartridge48 while the cartridge 48 is moving and the toner is being fed into thefunnel 52.

It is to be understood that any mechanism capable of reciprocating thecartridge 48 may be used in place of the lead screw/carriage mechanismthat is illustrated. Also, in the embodiment that includes the leadscrew 62, any type of drive can be used for rotating the lead screw 62,including a hand crank. It is also within the scope of the invention tomount the cartridge carriage 56 and funnel 52 for back and forth linearmovement lengthwise of the inlet 50 and then move the carriage 56,cartridge 48 and funnel 52 by hand.

As shown by FIG. 1, control panels 60, 62 may be provided on a wall ofthe housing 10, e.g. front wall 64. The controls include off/on switchesfor the feed screw drive, the carriage drive and the vibrators. Also, aspeed control for the feed screw 30 and the lead screw 62 may beprovided together with gauges which display indicia showing the feedrate of the feed screw 30, the travel rate of the lead screw 62 and theaptitude and frequency of the vibrators.

The apparatus of the invention is compact and can be set onto a counter,a table or some other elevated support. Despite its small size, thehopper 12 is capable of holding a relatively large volume of particulatematerial. It is quick and easy to add additional particulate materialinto the hopper 12 as the level of the particulate material in thehopper 12 drops towards the feed screw 30. The use of the feed screw 30and the capability of varying its drive speed makes it possible toclosely control the feed rate of the particulate material. This makes itpossible to use the feed screw to cause discharge of the particulatematerial into a container having a horizontally elongated inlet, such asa toner cartridge, and allows the container to be moved back and forthbelow the outlet 46 of the discharge spout 26.

In operation, a toner cartridge 48 may be supported on the carriage 56together with a funnel 52 that receives the discharge nozzle 46 at itsopen upper end. Particulate material is placed within the hopper 12 andthe cartridge 48 and funnel 52 are positioned on the carriage 56. Thefeed screw power and the lead screw power are turned on and are set at adesired speed of operation. The operator need only watch as the carriage56, cartridge 48 and funnel 52 reciprocate back and forth below theoutlet nozzle 46 of the discharge spout 26. The feed screw 30 operatesto continuously move particulate material out from the hopper 12 andthrough the outlet passageway 24 into the discharge spout 26. When aproper amount of toner is in the cartridge 48, the power is turned offfor the both the feed screw 30 and the lead screw 62. If desired, anautomatic control can be provided which is responsive to the weight lossof the toner from the hopper 12 for turning off the power when thedesired amount of toner has been deposited into the cartridge 48.

The illustrated embodiments are only examples of the present inventionand, therefore, are non-limitive. It is to be understood that manychanges in the particular structure, materials and features of theinvention may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention. Therefore, it is my intention that my patent rights not belimited by the particular embodiments that are illustrated and describedherein, but rather are to be determined by the following claims,interpreted according to accepted doctrines of patent claimconstruction, including use of the doctrine of equivalents.

1. Apparatus for handling finely divided particulate material,comprising: a particulate material receiving hopper having an upper endand a lower end and sidewalls that converge as they extend downwardlyfrom the upper end to the lower end; a trough at the lower end of thehopper having a closed bottom and closed sides and an open top; anoutlet passageway extending endwise outwardly from one end of the troughto a downwardly opening outlet spout; and a feed screw in the troughthat extends outwardly from the trough into the outlet passageway, saidfeed screw being operable to move particulate material outwardly fromthe hopper into and through the outlet passageway, to the dischargespout, whereby a container for receiving particulate material can bepositioned under the discharge spout and the feed conveyor can beoperate to move particulate material to the discharge spout from whichit will discharge into the container.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1,comprising a drive shaft connected to the feed screw at the end of thefeed screw opposite the outlet passageway, said shaft being connectableto a drive that is operable for rotating the drive shaft and feed screw.3. The apparatus of claim 1, including at least one vibrator attached tothe hopper for vibrating the hopper.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1,including a plurality of vibrators attached to the hopper for vibratingthe hopper.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1, comprising a support for ahorizontally elongated container positioned below the discharge spout,said container having a horizontally elongated inlet, and a horizontallyelongated funnel having an inlet at its upper end for receivingparticulate material from the spout and an outlet at its lower end fordischarging particulate material from the funnel into the inlet of thecontainer.
 6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the support table forthe container has a carriage that is movable and is operable for movingthe container back and forth below the discharge spout.
 7. The apparatusof claim 1, further including a load cell for monitoring the weight ofthe particulate material in the hopper.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1,further comprising an outer housing in which the hopper is located, saidouter housing including a sidewall opening through which the outletpassageway extends, said discharge spout being positioned on the outletpassageway outside of the housing.
 9. The apparatus of claim 8,comprising a shaft connected to the feed screw at the end of the feedscrew opposite the outlet passageway, said shaft being connectable to adrive motor that is operable for rotating the shaft and feed screw. 10.The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the shaft extends outwardly through anopening in a sidewall of the housing, said shaft being connectable to adrive motor outside of the housing that is operable for rotating theshaft and feed screw.
 11. The apparatus of claim 8, including at leastone vibrator inside the outer housing that is attached to the hopper forvibrating the hopper.
 12. The apparatus of claim 8, including aplurality of vibrators inside the housing that are attached to thehopper for vibrating the hopper.
 13. The apparatus of claim 8, includinga load cell positioned below the outer housing, for measuring the weightof the housing, the hopper and the particulate material in the hopper.14. The apparatus of claim 8, comprising a support for a horizontallyelongated container positioned below the discharge spout, said containerbeing positioned on the support and having a horizontally elongatedinlet, and a horizontally elongated funnel having an inlet at its upperend for receiving particulate material from the spout and an outlet atits lower end for discharging particulate material for the funnel intothe inlet of the container.
 15. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein thehopper is constructed from a plastic material.
 16. The apparatus ofclaim 15, wherein the plastic material is polyurethane.
 17. Theapparatus of claim 9, comprising a control panel on the housing,including a start/stop control for the feed screw drive motor.
 18. Theapparatus of claim 17, comprising a variable speed drive for the driveshaft.
 19. A method of handling particulate material, comprising:providing a hopper having a sidewall forming a chamber, an upper end, alower end and an outlet at the lower end; providing an outlet passagewayleading endwise outwardly from the outlet; providing a feed conveyor inthe bottom of the hopper and extending said feed conveyor into theoutlet passageway, said conveyor being adapted to move the particulatematerial out from the hopper and into and through the outlet passagewaywhen the feed conveyor is rotated; providing a discharge spout on theend of the outlet passageway opposite the hopper, said discharge spoutbeing adapted to discharge particulate material downwardly; placingparticulate material in the hopper; operating the feed conveyor to moveparticulate material out from the hopper, through the outlet passagewayto and through the discharge spout; and positioning a receivingcontainer below the discharge spout in a position to receive particulatematerial that is moved outwardly from the hopper into the dischargespout.
 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the particulate material istoner.
 21. The method of claim 20, wherein the receiving conveyor placedunder the outlet spout is a toner cartridge.
 22. The method of claim 19,comprising providing at least one vibrator on the hopper for vibratingthe hopper for assisting downward movement of the particulate materialthrough the hopper.
 23. The method of claim 19, comprising supportingthe weight of the hopper and the particulate material in the hopper on aload cell and using the load cell to monitor the amount of particulatematerial that is discharged from the hopper into the container.
 24. Themethod of claim 19, including providing a receiving container has ahorizontally elongated inlet, said method further comprising moving thecontainer back and forth lengthwise of said inlet while the particulatematerial is being discharged into the container through the dischargespout.
 25. The method of claim 23, comprising mounting the container ona carriage and moving the carriage back and forth lengthwise of theinlet in the container while the particulate material is dischargingfrom the hopper into the inlet.